Hey everyone!
So I got one of the best xmas gifts ever -the WSM 18.5. Super excited, I searched the internet for different tips, tricks, reciepies, etc and within 10 minutes, I quickly realized this is THE best place to be. So I created an account and here I am.
This past saturday was the first day I had a chance to actually smoke something and I decided brisket would be a great first choice. Friday afternoon I went to my local butcher, picked up a 9 lbs brisket and lugged it home. After trimming some of the fat off, I put on a dry rub of salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder and some cumin and put it in the fridge for the night. (I hope these pics show up)
7 AM Saturday came nice and early. I went out in the snow and started the smoker via the minion method. I had a bit of a hard time finding wood chunks in such a rush and only ended up being able to find hickory and cherry (side note: if any toronto TVWBBers know of a good place to find wood chunks, please let me know). I didn't really want to use the combination but it was all I could find so I went with it. I placed some chunks on top of the briquettes and used a 2/3s full pan of water. I assembled the rest of the smoker and put the meat on the top grill and let the temp rise. After about 45mins, I realized the smoker was stuck at 200 degrees. After a bit of troubleshooting I decieded to laddle almost half of the water out of the pan and finally reached 240. It was about -6 (celcius.. for some reason I use C for weather temp and F for smoker temp.. weird) and snowy yesterday so I think having that much water in there was just hogging all the heat.
After about 5 hrs, I took my first peek.
I put a local beer, Steam Whistle, in a spray bottle and gave it a generous spritz. I may have also given my mouth a few generous squirts as well but thats between me and my WSM
I was blown away by how little tinkering I needed to do to keep the temperature within the target range. This thing is awesome.
Around 6 hrs in, I noticed it was around 220 degrees so I opened up the side door, gave the charcoal rack a few bangs with some tongs and the temp went right back up to 245. Awesome.
After 9 hrs I was at 190 degrees. I took it out, wrapped it in foil and put it in a cooler to sit for 2 hrs.
This was the final product
Seperated the flat and cap and sliced away!
I was very pleased with the moistness and the smoke ring even though it cant be seen too will in the last picture. I maybe didn't put enough wood chunks in (3 and 3) but I was worried about the brisket being too sweet from the combination. Maybe I should've added more.
Everyone loved it. It was delicious.
With all that being said, I probably wouldn't have even been able to start a WSM let alone cook a brisket on it without the help of this website and its users, so I want to thank you guys immensely.
Feel free to give criticize, comment or give suggestions.
I'm cooking up some ribs for new years tomorrow and I think I'm going to try a ceramic saucer instead of water this time.
Happy new year everyone and can't wait for the next WSB adventure!
So I got one of the best xmas gifts ever -the WSM 18.5. Super excited, I searched the internet for different tips, tricks, reciepies, etc and within 10 minutes, I quickly realized this is THE best place to be. So I created an account and here I am.
This past saturday was the first day I had a chance to actually smoke something and I decided brisket would be a great first choice. Friday afternoon I went to my local butcher, picked up a 9 lbs brisket and lugged it home. After trimming some of the fat off, I put on a dry rub of salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder and some cumin and put it in the fridge for the night. (I hope these pics show up)
7 AM Saturday came nice and early. I went out in the snow and started the smoker via the minion method. I had a bit of a hard time finding wood chunks in such a rush and only ended up being able to find hickory and cherry (side note: if any toronto TVWBBers know of a good place to find wood chunks, please let me know). I didn't really want to use the combination but it was all I could find so I went with it. I placed some chunks on top of the briquettes and used a 2/3s full pan of water. I assembled the rest of the smoker and put the meat on the top grill and let the temp rise. After about 45mins, I realized the smoker was stuck at 200 degrees. After a bit of troubleshooting I decieded to laddle almost half of the water out of the pan and finally reached 240. It was about -6 (celcius.. for some reason I use C for weather temp and F for smoker temp.. weird) and snowy yesterday so I think having that much water in there was just hogging all the heat.
After about 5 hrs, I took my first peek.
I put a local beer, Steam Whistle, in a spray bottle and gave it a generous spritz. I may have also given my mouth a few generous squirts as well but thats between me and my WSM
I was blown away by how little tinkering I needed to do to keep the temperature within the target range. This thing is awesome.
Around 6 hrs in, I noticed it was around 220 degrees so I opened up the side door, gave the charcoal rack a few bangs with some tongs and the temp went right back up to 245. Awesome.
After 9 hrs I was at 190 degrees. I took it out, wrapped it in foil and put it in a cooler to sit for 2 hrs.
This was the final product
Seperated the flat and cap and sliced away!
I was very pleased with the moistness and the smoke ring even though it cant be seen too will in the last picture. I maybe didn't put enough wood chunks in (3 and 3) but I was worried about the brisket being too sweet from the combination. Maybe I should've added more.
Everyone loved it. It was delicious.
With all that being said, I probably wouldn't have even been able to start a WSM let alone cook a brisket on it without the help of this website and its users, so I want to thank you guys immensely.
Feel free to give criticize, comment or give suggestions.
I'm cooking up some ribs for new years tomorrow and I think I'm going to try a ceramic saucer instead of water this time.
Happy new year everyone and can't wait for the next WSB adventure!
. Welcome to the board and thats a great first cook on the WSM. I have attempted one yet but think I'm gonna do one Tuesday
